Editing Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter Portrait

I have edited all of my final images but I have edited 2 pictures with screen grabs to show my workings.....

Throughout editing my final images I used different tools on different pictures - Some pictures needed saturation/desturation, some pictures needed areas patched up by using the Brush tool and double clicking on the colour needed and away you go.....   Other times a simple crop and resize of the image was only needed....  Each image is different and picked 2 to show my workings but as you will have my raw images you will be able to see my editing from having the final frame as well.....

Again I am not an expert at Photoshop, but I know the basics to edit a picture to a certain level - this will be area which I will want to develop in the future.

I have put the Word documents of my working's on to the disk with my final edited images.

Final Images Unedited- Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter Portrait

Here are my final 12 images for my Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter Portrait theme.

I wanted to show them pre photoshop and go through what and why I like about each picture and some comparisons from some of the photographers I researched, to what I ended up doing in the studio.

From top left going horizontally....

Winter 1 - I loved this picture.... I wanted to included a basic forward front portrait shot in my collection and  thought that this one was a little different.  I love the hat and have used pink wallpaper as my background.  She has a natural no expression on her face and really shows the make up perfectly! 5.0 F Stop -  1/6 Shutter Speed -  ISO- 100

This shot I tried to recreate from the Stephen Eastwood research I did..... I found his work appealing and think I did a pretty good job at imitating the fashion look.  Obviously after editing this will look better and more similar.  I will be keep my picture colour though as I feel this is quite important to my work and want to keep my theme consistent.


Winter 2 - This is a typical fashion shot what you would see in any fashion magazine.....  I love the black dress and the colour scarf I think it makes the picture more interesting.  I also like the slight shadows of her legs which is an effect similar to one of the photographers I researched.... 4.0 F Stop - 1/6 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

The fashion in these pictures are very different.... However the pose of the model's are quite similar and with the picture being portrait feel that Alex Styles work had an influence in my work here...

Winter 3 - The pose of the model is a little different and liked the face shes looking straight into the viewer if the picture which makes it personal.  I have purposely over exposed the photo which gives it a little bit of a 'wacky' view which goes with the pose of the model.... 4.0 F stop - 1/6 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Autumn 1 - I love the angle of this shot and makes the frame more interesting with the subject not just being in the centre of the shot.  This is my only landscape shot of this theme and like the fact there is space in the top right hand corner, again this was on purpose and could be for a number of fashion products. 5.0 F Stop - 1/6 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Autumn 2 - I love love love this picture.... I love the angle that it has been taken and cropped.  I used a wind machine and love the model pose especially on her face.  I know its very important for the camera to connect with a subject and normally that connection is through the eyes but I feel that this picture could be used for some sort of sensual product effectively.... 5.0 F Stop - 1/6 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Autumn 3 - This is one of my fave shots out of the whole theme.....  I used a desk from out of the studio and leafs that I bought in myself to make the season a bit more convincing.  I love the model pose and the angle that the picture was taken..... 5.0 F Stop - 1/6 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Summer 1 - This is quite a simple shot and I think I have made use of the lighting here to influence my theme.... Summer! I believe that it looks like the sun is actually shining and the parasol that she is using is to cover her from the sun.....  The make up is simple and hair pushed back for effect.....  I bought in a sun umbrella as one of my props and like how it has been used in the shot.  The way the picture has been taken/cropped, you could think she has no clothes/bikini on i.e on the beach. 9.0 F Stop - 1/25 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Summer 2 - This is another one of my favorite pictures.... I have used a block for the model to squat on, I had to get the shot quite quickly as it wasn't the most comfortable position to be in for the model.  I used the wind machine to create a breeze and again lots and lots of light from camera work and the lights in the studio to have an effect of Summer.  9.0 F Stop -  1/25 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Summer 3 - This picture is lovely.... I again have used a large amount of light from the studio and camera work (low aperture). I like that there is space on the right side of the frame creating a great angle of which I think the model looks like she is leaning over slightly.... Makes the picture more interesting, I think!  I love hoe light the bottom right hand corner is just an effect for the Season! 9.0 F Stop - 1/25 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Spring 1 - This is quite a casual shot with the model looking straight at the camera.  I used the prop of a brown suitcase from the studio and think it went with the model's clothing quite nicely.  I like the composition of this picture with the model on the left hand side but there is still a focal point at the bottom of the shot of the suitcase. 8.0 F Stop - 1/25 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Spring 2 - I love the over exposure on this shot and the shadows from the legs and body....  Again trying to compose a picture like on of the photographers I researched.  I also like the fact you can see the cord going off the picture - makes it more real! 5.6 F Stop - 1/25 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Spring 3 - I know Ive said for a few, but i really think this is my fave picture for composition.  The model has changed her clothes in to a theme and found some fabric to match the theme of the clothing and used the studio blocks to create a background.....  The hands are already half cropped out and love the angle which I took this.... 7.1 F Stop - 1/25 Shutter Speed - ISO - 100

Preperation & Shoot for Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter Portrait Shoot.....

I asked my friend Claire Bache to attend as a model as she is a make up artist and fantastic at doing different looks.  She is also very comfortable in from of the camera and this is what I wanted to make the experience run as smoothly as possible.

So we arranged a date and booked some studio time and then I started to think about what I wanted my pictures to look like.....  I did some research on the sort of shots I wanted to get out of my time in the studio but also started to think about putting my twist of the seasons on to each theme.  (Please see researched photographers....)

I decided to split the seasons in two.  Autumn & Winter and Spring & Summer.  I decided to do Autumn & Winter first.....

So I started thinking about the seasons and what people associate with each one.  I did a bit of survey to get peoples thoughts.... The results are as follows:

Winter

Christmas trees and decorations

Cold

Hat, Scarfs and gloves

Presents

Halloween

Skiing

Autumn

Wind

Leafs

Getting dark

Summer

Seaside

Shells

Sun

Sunglasses

Warmth

Spring

Flowers

Easter

Colours

So I decided to use Christmas decorations to represent the Winter party time.  Autumn I took along some leafs I gathered from my garden.  Summer I used shells, sun umbrella and the lighting in studio to represent the sun. And finally I used flowers and colours for Spring.

I asked my model to bring a selection of clothes for each season and went through before what would look good together.  We also discussed make up and what sort of look I was looking for within he image but left the technical side to her as she is the professional after all...

Even though I was working with someone who is comfortable in front of the camera  I wanted to make sure we were going to be covered for different ideas reference modelling poses.  So I took along a fashion magazines and also printed some poses off different websites by just searching model poses in to google.  These did end up being quite handy at the start to get thing warmed up... But then things started to come quite naturally after a little while.

Coming in to the studio the following week to do the Summer & Spring shoot were similar but obviously with different clothes and different make up and different props as above....

I used the wind machine as an effect for Autumn as well and did use on each Season to see what would look good....  I used some props from the studio as well such as tables, chairs, flowers, suitcase, telephone and different coloured cloth.

I used my own personal Canon 20D camera for all of the pictures.  I used a tripod sometimes when I felt necessary.  I kept my ISO at 100 so I would get a good quality fine finish and adapted my f stop and shutter speed to vary light and sharpness.  I tried to use as many different depths of field and angles as possible to get a good choice of images so I would be happy with my final shots.  All pictures were taken with a standard size lens....

Within the studio I think I made use of the space quite well, with making sure the lights were not getting too hot and that props were put away safely after use and when altering the lights i.e brightness, position that I always considered health and safety of me and my model at all times.

My main aim with my pictures were that could be found in any fashion magazine in the supermarkets today.  I wanted to use up to date looks and the feel of high end fashion.

I took around 20 frames for each season and first picked my favorite and then whittled it down to 3 from each with a total of 12 shots for my final Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter Portrait theme.

The reason I picked my final 12 to be my final 12.....

Overall I decided on my final 12 because each image was a little different from lighting to props and model poses.  I felt the clothes and make up along with camera work made each image believable as a high fashion image in each season which was my aim at the start of the project.

My first time in the studio....

My first time in the studio was a little overwhelming.... It was as i imagined it to be with the white walls and lots of lights!  I used the college camera which was Canon which was good as my personal camera is a canon. 

Steve did the orginal set up with the lights and gave us a talk on health and safety i.e how the lights get hotter the longer they are on and to be careful of the wires and props when moving around the studio.  We used different types of light to get different effects, from spot light to soft light to overall lights.

As you can see we just used simple objects from within the studio.  We used the brown wood as a base and each took it turns to shoot the objects.  I used the 'tripod' to do long exposure shots and set my ISO to 100 and adapted my F stop and shutter speed to get differnet kinds of shots.

We did then go on to doing some portrait photography using each other as models and getting used to having ideas ising props etc and got quite in to by the end and got me inspired to get in there and do some of my own stuff and start planning on what I would do while in the studio.  It got me thinking about what props, lights and what sort of pictures I hope to get out of my studio time!

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter - Alex Styles research......

Alex Styles is only 23.  He is from the West Midlands and made his name in the studio's of the heart of the country.  He has photographed many celebrities such as The Saturdays, Fearne Cotton and Dave Berry and many more.....

He also done a lot of work in fashion for well know high street stores, like Urban Outfitters, New Look and for well known productions like the Clothes Show.  He also photographs for hair, product and publications, so from looking at his work he is very versatile.  I paid special attention to his Fashion photography and picked out the above pictures as some of my favorites.  I enjoyed the simple effectiveness of the pure fashion, just showing the clothes and the model.  I like the clear plain background but I also like where he has used the wooden background for the girl sitting down as I think this does add a feel to the picture.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter - Stephen Eastwood Research.......

I came across Stephen's work and really enjoyed looking at it.... Not much is actually said about him as a photographer but wanted to mention him and show some of his work as this is the sort of work I would be interested in doing!  What I did find out about him was that he was born in Long Island NEW YORK!  He started out as a model himself, mostly body shots, fitness stuff etc.  His favorite kind of shoot is beauty and 2nd up is high end fashion.  On his website he has a Q&A session which provided an interesting read for his personal preferences on the photography that he does.....

Summer, Spring, Autumn, Winter - Jason Christopher research.....

Jason Christopher works all over LA and got established as a fashion and beauty photographer in 1996.  His work has been described as classic, clean and romantic. His interest progressed on to the beautiful designers that he saw in fashion magazines such as Vogue, Italian Vogue and W magazine.

His motto is "Be prepared or prepare to fall."

I have chosen the above pictures as love the make up that are on the models.  Particularly the model with the very bright make up of just the close up of the face.  The lighting is perfect and really like the effect of the light spot in the bottom left hand corner.

The picture of the girl with the big hair and dark eyes is fab!  Its not quite black and white or colour.... It looks like there has been a tinge of bronze used probably by photoshop but think this is very effective for the shot.  Looks very classic and like the fact she is not centered in the middle and the back ground is blurred but you can imagine she is somewhere outside in a sort of spooky classic environment.

After having a little look on you tube I found a fashion shoot with Jason Christopher in New York I believe....  Even though this was not in a stuido enviroment, I enjoyed watching it from a fashion point of view and like to see how he worked with the models.

Here is the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj8XFSNfBcA&feature=fvsr

Then I found one of him in a studio working with Terell Suggs who after doing a little research is an American Footballer.

Here is the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiue3CyePoA